PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 9 DVD Review By Matt Bayliss

(Above: After Mark Haskins tells both Ricochet & Zack Sabre Jr to stop hitting him they both level him together - Picture credit to Rob Brazier Jr.)

Before I start I must confess that I've never been to or watched a complete Progress show before despite seeing a few bits and pieces and hearing nothing but very positive things about them, so when I got asked to watch and review this I jumped at the chance especially with a mix of guys on the card that I really like and some I've not had chance to see much. So is everyone right or was I disappointed? We shall see ... This. Is. Progress!

Disc One

The DVD starts with clips from the video promo war between Stixx and Nathan Cruz, giving background to the feud between Stixx and the Screw Indy wrestling group following Stixx defeating Mark Haskins at a previous show. The promo's are intense and really hype the battle for later in the show.

The show starts with promoter Jim Smallman in the ring. I first saw Smallman doing stand up supporting Mick Foley on his first UK comedy tour so I already know he's a genuine wrestling fan as well as a funny comic.

As part of his intro he lays out the show to come and hypes the next show and announces some changes to the card due to some injuries, most notably Jimmy Havoc who is still in attendance but unable to compete

Tommy End def. Dave Mastiff

End is in as a replacement for Jimmy Havoc and kicks off the match challenging Mastiffs power, Mastiff soon takes charge with his size until End slows him down with some big kicks. Mastiff comes back with a cross body and starts to wear down End, holding him up in a suplex while the crowd counted to 30, but only managed a 2 count. End gets himself back in it with a spring board moonsault then a double knee press into a huge kick, both only getting 2's. He then hits a double foot stomp off the top rope but Mastiff rolls outside before he can capitalise. Mastiff hits a massive lariat and a German suplex for 2, then hits another German into the turnbuckles to set up his cannonball but End stops him with a viscous kick followed by another top rope foot stomp 1-2-3

Good, hard hitting match to get the show going, a lot of respect from the crowd for both guys

"Mr Wrestling" Paul Robinson def. Eddie Dennis

This match is a semi-final in the Natural Progression series, the winner will face "White Lightening" Mark Andrews in the final at the next show.

Dennis is literally about twice the size of Robinson and exerts his dominance early on, Robinson however is ridiculously fast and uses this to his advantage. This is a great contrast in styles and allows both men to excel. I'm a big fan of Eddie Dennis and it was great watching him against a small opponent and seeing him show off his pure wrestling ability and style. Some nice spots in the match including a massive "Razors Edge" power bomb which only got a 2 count. At one point Robinson rolled himself up in a ball like a hedgehog to defend himself, Dennis was kicking him round the ring and he just rolled with it, eventually he just picked him up and threw him! Eventually Robinson was able to hit a shooting star press and pick up the 3 for what I have to say is an upset victory.

Zack Sabre Jnr def. Mark Haskins & Ricochet

Until now I'd not seen a complete Ricochet match, only highlights packages and he always looked entertaining as hell and a phenomenal athlete and great gymnast ... So my immediate thought was how will that fit in with the Progress Strong style, especially up against 2 men who are arguably amongst the best in the country. I was not disappointed! I watched this match twice and still found myself stopping and rewinding it to watch spots again! This is an advantage of watching on DVD, can only imagine watching it live you could blink and miss some magic. The multiple cameras manage to catch all the action and give you a genuine, up close ringside view.

At the start of the match as Smallman is banned from introducing any member of the Screw Indy Wrestling group Haskins tries to do his own intro but the boo's from the 350 person sell out crowd are deafening! Ricochet on the other hand is greeted with chants of "O'Shea O'Shea"

Ricochet and Sabre dispense with Haskins from the off send have an amazing, rapid exchange until Haskins trips Ricochet and takes control, working over Sabre before locking both him and Ricochet in a double submission. Ricochet breaks the hold before hitting a standing shooting star press on Sabre.

Ricochet then gets Haskins locked in an innovative submission hold before he escaped and starts to take control again temporarily. All guys get some offence in including some great moves involving all 3 men simultaneously culminating in a triangle punch off! Sabre and Ricochet end up taking turns hitting Haskins with uppercuts before hitting a sweep kick combo.

Sabre and Ricochet go at it, hard hitting and high speed. Ricochet attempts a hand spring off the ropes but Sabre stops him by booting him in the head mid move. The match continues to go back and forth between all 3 men, each utilising amazing innovative and painful looking moves. Haskins has the match won but Sabre breaks up his pin attempt with a running kick that very nearly takes his head off his shoulders before pinning him for the 3.

The entire crowd are on their feet applauding, Jim Smallman enters the ring to send the show to interval and he sums up the match perfectly and simply .... "F@&king hell!!"

Disc Two

The second half of the show opens with Smallman in the ring to draw the winner from the charity raffle. Jimmy Havoc is invited to the ring to pick the winner, discuss his injury and get a great ovation from the crowd.

Stixx def. Nathan Cruz

First match of the second half is a very personal grudge match, Stixx goes right after Cruz before the match is officially under way. Cruz gets on the mic and runs down Stixx criticising him for DEFENDing Indy Wrestling and not being a pro like him, before hitting him with a low blow before the bell rings.

Cruz is all over Stixx and the fight heads outside the ting and deep into the crowd, prompting chants of "We can't see shit!" The two eventually make it back to the ring to chants of "Welcome back" and Stixx goes head first into the ring post and gets bust open.

Cruz is firmly in control but can't keep Stixx down, Stixx manages to mount some offence, a huge spear, spine buster and a cross body in the corner and he begins to take charge. At one point Cruz gets knocked off the apron into the wall at the side of the ring. Stixx hits a black hole slam but only gets 2. The finish comes when Stixx locks Cruz in a brutal submission, he also holds his arm so he can't tap out forcing him to say I quit.

Project Ego & T-Bone def. Bhangra Knights & A Mystery partner

Danny Garnell was due to be the Bhangra Knights partner for this 6 -man but was out injured with a slipped disc, the replacement was kept a mystery until the start of the match, then out comes Grado to a huge ovation.

Similarly to the triple threat match I have watched this match twice but I've genuinely got no idea how to explain what happens, it was absolutely hilarious from the off. Kris Travis and Martin Kirby are one of the best tag teams around and also one of the most entertaining, the Bhangra Knights are not far behind then there is Grado who is, well he's Grado! Add into this making his Progress debut (and somebody I am a big fan of) T-Bone who played the straight man perfectly eventually telling his partners to "Stop f&@king about" and kicking them out of the ring ... Only for them to invade the lighting booth and mess around there for a few minutes! After a lot of comedy, interspersed with some wrestling, the Bhangra Knights locked in a double ethnic submission on Travis and Kirby, when they failed to break the hold after a 5 count they were disqualified much to the dismay of the crowd! However feeling the injustice they decided to 'play the race card' and the match restarted.

I think Progress commentator Jimmy Barnett summed it up best at one point where he said "I have no f&@king idea what I'm commentating on!!"

Eventually Project Ego picked up the win, this is a must see match simply for the humour and interaction between everyone involved and also with the crowd.

After the match the London a Riots who wrestled their last contracted matches for PROGRESS at the last show hit the ring and destroyed the Bhangra knights and Grado threatening Smallman who was in the ring. Jimmy Havoc hits the ring with a steel chair in hand to chase them off. Smallman gets on the mic but as he does Havoc takes him out with the steel chair, stunning the crowd!

Havoc takes the mic and berates Smallman for taking him for granted, not caring about his injury or his future, always wanting to book him in death matches shortening his career and life, instead he brings him out like a mascot to draw his raffle and help raise money for his mothers cancer.

The crowd are all over Havoc and the Riots, but Havoc continues, stating nobody cares about him so from now on he's going to do whatever he wants to do!

PROGRESS Champion Rampage Brown with Nathan Cruz def. Doug Williams

Neither of these men require an introduction but Cruz is out to give one to the Champion regardless
.
The action goes back and forth throughout, each man seizing temporary control only to gave it wrestled away from them again. Both guys seem to gave each other well scouted and counter/stay away from each other's moves.

The crowd are really behind Williams and it seems to drive him on and annoy Cruz at ringside in equal measure
The match was hard hitting throughout, until finally Rampage manages to nail Doug with a pile driver to pick up the 3 before celebrating in the ring with Cruz.

**Bonus match from the debut ENDVR show**

Joey Lakeside def Lord Jonathon Windsor

Nice little teaser added to the disc giving a full match from the debut ENDVR show which highlights talent from Progress training Pro-Jo

Match is pretty solid in a nice little arena surrounded by a balcony which literally puts the crowd on top of the action. Joey Lakeside comes out on top picking up the submission win with a single leg crab

Overall a great show and the DVD presentation is very good, the multiple camera angles give a very immersive view of the action, at some points the cameras look filtered but it may just be the lighting affecting it but this is only for moments here and there. The commentary us very good, Jimmy Barnett is fun and it's very much a fan point of view but he does it in a way that is entertaining and not cliche ridden. As is fairly obvious from the review my highlights are the triple threat and 6 man tag matches - although admittedly for very different reasons! The Jimmy Havoc segment was great and shows what can be done with an adult orientated show, a lot of emotion boiling over and some brutality.

Guys like Eddie Dennis, Dave Mastiff, Nathan Cruz, Stixx, Sabre and Haskins all prove every time I see them that British wrestling is flying extremely high and this country has some of the greatest talent available, as well as some of the most entertaining characters going

Progress definitely lives up to the hype and I look forward to watching a lot more down the line. Right now I'm off to watch that triple threat again .....

Leave comments and/or follow me on twitter @mattmatt316

A Teenage Savage by Nathaniel G. Moore

Randy "Macho Man" Savage debuted on WWE programming in mid-1985, soon rising to main event status in house shows against Hulk Hogan and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Looking over his early, pre-title winning days, you can see a calculating character on the rise; for example, a finish to a match with Steamboat was echoed some four or five months later in his Intercontinental title victory over Tito Santana in February 1986. It's the same coiled steal to the face while his opponent brings him in with a suplex. Savage's heel character blew up in 1986, particularly in the fall when he crushed Steamboat's larynx. I remember taping the match that was aired on WWE Superstars and watching it in slow-motion replay to see how his neck got pulverized.

As Savage's popularity grew, I noticed uncanny moments of character shifts, telling moments such as the night Honky Tonk Man beat Steamboat for the Intercontinental title. In a backstage segment, announcers were awestruck and let viewers know how strange it was that the first person to congratulate the new Elvis of wrestling was in fact Randy Savage. By the fall Savage was a full-fledged face, with Hogan now in his corner, it seemed like the Mega-Power rise would be the dominate storyline in professional wrestling for years to come. And their drawing power helped fuel the WWE into prime time and new pay-per-views (Royal Rumble, Summerslam) - yes technically the Rumble began in 1988 but in terms of an original four pay-per-view, 1989's classic was the first.

As Macho Madness peaked, Hulkamania went Hollywood for the second time (if you count Rocky III) and we all wondered if the eighties would end with a new champion replacing that which had defined the era. We of course, were wrong. Back from his cinematic break, Hogan returned to claim his spotlight, and Savage had to turn bad. It was during this time in Savage’s career that I see the similarity between CM Punk’s post-Rock WWE title loss and that of Savage. Savage became the Macho King, never held a title and was the semi-main event for nearly two
years.

The Macho King gimmick was solid, but didn’t get any real heat until the well-written program with The Ultimate Warrior. Fusing two strange and esoteric talkers, characters and wrestling styles worked, the problem was, after the retirement match, Warrior stayed on for six months and was fired, while Savage stayed on for six months as colour commentator then was quickly re-instated to feud with Jake “The Snake” Roberts, end that feud and go after Ric Flair’s WWE title. This is when the character changed into some form of immortality, a segue into the zeitgeist Space Cowboy Savage that many fans remember better perhaps, than his sequined robe of pomp and circumstance.

Savage was always my favourite wrestler, however, my book is structured in a way that painfully examines our similar rises and falls, in a very obsessive, and at times depressing way. We can generalize and look back on Randy “Macho Man” Savage as one of the all time greats, and bemoan the fact that he is a pariah, and not in the WWE’s Hall of Fame. But what made Savage special isn’t a sound bite or a top ten list or some random resume of greatness; it’s his ability to conjure up specific memories for a large portion of the now older WWE audience.

We all had individual memories of Savage whether it be as a 6 year old watching Wrestlemania VIII or a 13 year old watching Wrestlemania IV. Our individual memories of Savage and his work ethic, his place in our hearts becomes externalized and empowered through Youtube comments, wrestling blog and news site comments and pushes him to new levels of myth. The fact that, aside from a 2010 promotional spot for a Video Game and an action figure, Savage remained a JD Salinger-type recluse in the world of wrestling speaks highly about how he regarded his legacy.

He never returned to cash-in one last time. He never came in to show us how far he had changed from his youthful brash past. He never had to. He never need be in the WWE Hall of Fame because he is the most talked about wrestler each year when the shortlist is announced. A year after marrying his high school sweetheart, Randy Savage died. To me that is one of the most tragic love stories I have ever read about.

I saw Randy Savage live five times, including matches against Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels and Scott Hall. I don’t know why I spent so much time thinking about him and what his character meant to my childhood, but perhaps with the publication of my new book, someone will let me know. Maybe it was just as simple as him being at the right place at the right time of my life. All I know is, his confidence, passion for what he did and style inspired me as a young person, and I’ll never forget his positive contributions to my survival as a teenager.


Savage 1986-2011 http://savageanovel.tumblr.com is available now from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Savage-1986-2011-Nathaniel-Moore/dp/1927380553

and Anvil Press www.anvilpress.com

Chris Hero Released By The WWE, Every Cloud.....By Stuart Rodgers @TheIndyCorner

So Chris Hero has been released from the WWE, he never made it to the main roster, he had been in the development territory FCW and then NXT as Kassius Ohno. When he was signed a couple of years back from the independents I was happy for him as he is a man who took his profession seriously, a lot more than most. He traveled the world to hone his skills including an extended stay in England to learn the British way of wrestling. Of course before heading to the WWE he was in ROH with his then tag team partner Claudio Castignoli (working there now as Antonio Cesero) as The Kings of Wrestling, both guys were signed around the same time and many thought they may of gone in as a team which would of been great as the WWE have not had a decent tag team division for many years in my opinion but the choice was made by the WWE to go in a different direction. Eventually Castignoli got the call up to the main roster where he would go on to win the US title, Hero however was left in developmental. There were many stories floating around the internet claiming Hero had been told to 'get into a better shape' and I was led to believe he had done just that but today, with this story coming out many are saying they are not surprised really he was released as he was told to improve his 'look' but didn't and so can't have any grievance with being released.

Moving on, Hero is now once again an independent wrestler and I for one am looking forward to seeing him in various indy groups such as ROH & PWG and hopefully back over here to the UK wrestling for some of our tremendous promotions. I mentioned PWG and word is, Hero has already been booked for their next run of shows, All Star Weekend in December which is going to make an already great looking pair of shows even better. As I tweeted this morning 'what is the WWE's loss is the indies gain' and I fully expect Hero to put the disappointment of being released by the WWE behind him and show why he was signed in the first place by putting on some tremendous matches on the indies

Follow me on twitter @TheIndyCorner, LIKE the podcast page http://facebook.com/TheIndyCorner and checkout the podcast http://theindycorner.podomatic.com or on itunes http://tinyurl.com/IndyCorneriTunes

And That's My Opinion...by Dave Green

#1 - Entrance music

Hello. I’m Dave. I’m a fan of wrestling. I want to stress that right away. I am a fan. I do not claim to be an expert in any of the elements that make a pro wrestling match. I have my opinions and preferences, yes, but I do not claim to be an expert.

I do not have a particular favourite style of wrestling. While I generally tend to appreciate the technical side of the sport mixed with high impact moves and high flying, I am usually just as happy watching a pure comedy match. I do tend to stay away from death matches. While I am not squeamish, I just don’t understand why people think it’s worthwhile to use light tubes, barbed wire and chairs to the head when we know what we know now.

I am also a music fan. I do not have a particular favourite style of music. While I generally tend to appreciate rock of the indie variety with a side portion of electronica and folk, I am just as happy boogieing with my hospital radio co-host to some cheesy disco. I do tend to stay away from modern day R&B and pop. While I am not squeamish, I only just recently saw a recent Miley Cyrus video (no, not the wrecking ball one, the other one) and I kind of worry about the future generations if she is a role model. Plus twerking makes me feel quite ill.
It has occurred to me over my many years on this planet how important music has become to pro wrestling. To a fresh pair of eyes watching a wrestling show for the first time, it helps establish the performer in many ways, ways in which I would to chat about to you right now.

A brief history lesson...

I believe I am right in saying that the first wrestler to use entrance music was Gorgeous George. During his heyday in the 40’s and 50’s, he entered the arena to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” (also the music used by Macho Man Randy Savage). In the late 70’s, the Fabulous Freebirds were the first to use rock music for their entrance, first using “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and then the Michael Hayes composed and performed “Badstreet USA”. Then of course the Rock & Wrestling Connection took place in 1984 that involved the WWF and MTV, which brought in Cyndi Lauper as a major cross promotion for the first Wrestlemania and really set the wheels in motion for the wrestling world as we now know it.

Initially the WWF and NWA only used entrance music sparingly for the bigger stars (i.e. Hogan and Flair). But over time, more and more of the wrestlers had their own themes. Jim Johnston and Jimmy Hart were the main names that set about the task of composing theme music for each WWF superstar and tag team, a herculean task, but one yielded memorable results. Every fan of the 80’s and 90’s WWF had their favourite entrance music: Demolition, Hart Foundation, Shawn Michaels, The Honky Tonk Man, Ultimate Warrior, Legion of Doom, just to name a few. Jim Johnston is still at it today – surely a Hall of Fame honour is on its way to him in the near future. With in-house musicians creating the music, it certainly helps on copyright and the distribution costs. It always breaks my heart when I watch a DVD of an old WWF ppv to find a treasured entrance theme has been replaced by something else just to avoid paying royalties – “Sorry Jimmy Hart, your theme for Dusty Rhodes may be one of the best of all time, but instead of paying you, we’re just going to use the theme from Wheel of Fortune instead.” (Note – this is no joke, that’s what they actually use!)

But what makes a great wrestler entrance theme? My first thought on that is pretty obvious – the opening moment of the song. Now when I say moment, I mean it can be the riff, bassline, drum or vocal. Let’s face it, when watching wrestling on TV, it’s only the first 30-45 seconds of the music you ever hear. The pop of the crowd upon hearing the first few words of Randy Orton’s theme or the operatic tones of Santino’s can be infectious. It’s Pavlovian conditioning, at the end of the day. What better way to simultaneously produce excitement among children and hatred among men than playing the first solitary note of “My Time is Now”? Randomly, I think the one WWF/E wrestler that has benefitted the most from memorable rifftastic theme music is none other than Billy Gunn. A man that has had many themes to suit his various gimmicks, he’s always had memorable theme music - The Smokin’ Gunns shooting sound effects into the wild west rock, the New Age Outlaws chantalongability, “I’m an Ass Man”, Billy & Chuck’s boy band influenced pop – even “The One” Billy Gunn gimmick had a great riff. Only “Rockabilly” escapes my memory, and I think the man himself would have it no other way!



Special mention must go to Mankind. As suggested by Mr Foley himself, Mankind entered to a creepy, sinister string section like something out of a Hitchcock film. But after he had destroyed his opponent, he had different music for his exit, a beautiful piano piece, as if calming Mankind down so he did not do any more damage. It was highly original and I am not aware of anyone who did this before or since.

Not being much of a viewer of WCW during its peak time, I do not know a lot of their theme music, though of course the nWo theme is widely regarded as one of the best due to its individual sounding nature. Goldberg also has music had fitted the grandiose nature of his entrance, so much so the WWE didn’t bother to adapt it too much when they brought him in 2003. TNA could really do with some better music for their acts. Aside from Jeff Jarrett’s, The Beautiful People’s and maybe Kurt Angle’s, there’s no entrance music on Impact that makes me immediately recognise who is coming out.

Another reasonably important part to an entrance theme is the lyrics, if there is any. The lyrics need to reflect the wrestler(s) they are singing about. This can veer from the good (Demolition – “Here comes the Ax and here comes the Smasher / We’re Demolition, Walking disaster”, lyrics even Low Ki himself recited on an edition of NXT) to the downright awful (Beer Money – He’s from the country/He’s from the city/Watch your money/And your alcohol!). If you get the words right, you have a song that many fans will recite from memory better than any song on the radio.

A wrestler performing their own entrance music has become more popular in recent years. Aside from the aforementioned Freebirds, the earliest performance of an entrance by the actual wrestler I can recall would be the Honky Tonk Man. But of course, he didn’t perform that live as he entered the ring (and I don’t count that abomination at Wrestlemania 6 – and neither should you!). The Mountie very proudly performed his own song, which was everyone’s guilty pleasure, and often sung it to the camera as he made his way to the ring. Actual live performance was few and far between. The earliest of that I can recall would be “The Real Double J” Jesse James, who performed “With My Baby Tonight” on his way down the aisle. Now that was a song that could easily have been in the charts (so we wrestling fans liked to tell ourselves to lend some credibility to the gimmick). Mr James wouldn’t stop there though, as he brought K-Kwik to the mass audience to “Get Rowdy” in late 2000 and then as part of the 3 Live Krew in early TNA. Oh, in case you don’t know, K-Kwik went on to become Ron “The Truth” Killings and then R-Truth, who’s still rapping his way to the ring to this day. Yeah, thanks Jesse. In Dragon Gate in Japan, Rich Swann has taken the live singing gimmick to the next level. He beatboxes his entire entrance. Not really sure what it tells me about him as a wrestler or character, but I certainly took notice when I first saw him. And standing out is what it’s all about, right? And no one stands out in their entrance more right now than Aiden English. NXT's resident artiste serenades his way to the ring to a different piano accompaniment every week, extolling his virtues to us through the medium of musical theatre, before rounding off with a huge "Double U Double U EEEEEEEEEEEE". Sounds ludicrous - and it is. But he pulls it off so well, to the point where the audience at Full Sail constantly ask for an encore and throw roses into the ring when he graces us with one. Not bad for a newcomer and particularly not bad considering he's always slightly off key.

Of course, if the company doesn’t have its own musicians, then wrestlers will need to find their own music. The use of music on the indie circuit has become even more integral to establishing a character. If your image isn’t on the TV, then this entrance may be the first time a crowd is seeing you and getting the entrance right always makes a good first impression. I first saw Tommy End at Progress Chapter 9. I’d never heard of him before I got into the building when they announced him as a substitute for Jimmy Havoc. His music was a quite intense metal riff which I had not heard before, but before I could even attempt to recognise it, out he came, stomping to the ring, no pausing for applause, just out the door, onto the stage, down the steps, into the ring, ready to fight. No pomp or ceremony, just straight forward to the point. The entire entrance with the music summed up his character to me right away – he’s in that ring to do business and wrestle. He’ll accept the plaudits from the crowd if and when he earns them after the match. At Revolution Pro “Uprising”, two different characters were established using almost the same music. Zack Sabre Jr entered to the LDRS techno theme as has been established over many years on the indie circuit. His recently turned heel LDRS team mate Marty Scurll entered later on to a slower, darker version of the same song. Both of them were introduced as “one half of the LDRS of the New School”, however if you weren’t aware of the change of attitude of one of the members, it was certainly established by the dark tone of the second of the two entrances. On the negative side though, the dark version of the same song only reminded me of the unfortunate Sin Cara vs Sin Cara storyline of a few years back.

I remember going to see Progress for the first time, first wrestler out was Noam Dar. His music – “Morning Glory” by Oasis. This gave me a good first impression mainly due to being an Oasis fan, so in my mind he had good taste and I cheered his entrance. Then I realised he was a heel. And I realised that Oasis was a great band to use due to the cocky swagger of Dar very much emulating one Liam Gallagher, a character the majority of the world loves to hate. My most recent viewing of Dar was at the previously mentioned Revolution Pro show at York Hall recently. There he came out to a different Oasis song, “Live Forever”. If I hadn’t seen him before, I would not have made the connection, but the change of song made me wonder if he had a change in tune with his character having just come back from a four month injury lay off. Then I saw he was the same cocky git, so maybe not.

Through all the differing rock music offerings that indie wrestlers use to establish themselves, it seems strange that the best entrance in indie wrestling at the moment comes from a tubby Scotsman that enters to the sounds of the Queen of Pop. Grado’s entrance at Progress Chapter 9 was an event. His reputation preceded itself as nearly everyone in the room knew who he was, but this was my first experience of him live. His entrance involving dancing to the ring to “Like a Prayer” by Madonna makes him stand out from the pack and gets everyone involved in the fun aspect of his character. It may not be for everyone, but no doubt it’s an impactful entrance. On ICW’s YouTube channel, there is a great match between Grado and Mikey Whiplash. At one point, the entire crowd sings “Like a Prayer” to spur on Grado. How many times have you heard a crowd sing a wrestlers entrance in that way?!

The use of popular music has certainly made its way back to the mainstream in recent years, and there’s money to be made from it now. During the Attitude Era, the likes of Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit reared their ugly heads to provide music for The Undertaker. Motorhead finally gave Triple H a decent theme to enter to. Various rap and metal bands collaborated with WWE on full albums of differing quality. Vince McMahon has understandably been hesitant to use other artists’ songs for his wrestlers’ theme music, but it has provided memorable moments. The use of Alter Bridge’s “Metalingus” provided Edge with the music he still uses to this day. Tatu’s “All the Things She Said” gave the world an immediate impression of Victoria’s crazy character when she debuted. And, of course, who doesn’t enjoy a bit of “Cult of Personality?” That song not only establishes CM Punk’s character, but gave Living Colour themselves a new lease of life. So everyone’s a winner, right?

Now of course, over the years, WWE brought in many music stars as special guests for various Wresltemanias: Run DMC, Salt ‘n’ Pepa and Willie Nelson to name a few. These were only for live performances and they were all of varying quality. Though none quite as bad as the DX Band at Summerslam 1998. However, WWE took a long time to realise they could make some money from their own music. They seemed to think the album “Piledriver” and a few ill-conceived Simon Cowell influenced singles (Slam Jam, Wrestlemania) would suffice for their fans. Finally realising the popularity of their music, WWE finally put out anthology albums. Now themes are immediately available to download. Themes for the current crop of superstars can be given instant gratification if they are popular and well received enough for people to want to buy them. I guess the wrestlers themselves have to make sure that their theme isn’t so popular it eclipses them (Hi Fandango, I’m looking in your direction).

But what if your theme is established and you want change? If it’s a change in character, then it is probably necessary. Remember when Eddie Guerrero turned on Rey Mysterio? How foolish would he have looked if he’d come out the next week to the same “Lie, Cheat, Steal” music?! Again, getting it right is a matter of timing and character. When Daniel Bryan returned at Summerslam to face Nexus, he came out to a dirgey rock riff that had no personality whatsoever. He even stated that in an in-ring promo! The next week, he came out to Rise of the Valkyries, with a bemused Edge looking on. The ridiculousness of the vast sounding orchestral symphony soundtracking little Daniel Bryan to the ring was a funny image, but one that worked because you could see Bryan was loving it. It established a slightly geeky character, but one that was fun. Of course, in the ring was another matter. As we all know, he still uses the same tune but just a little bit rocked up.

Two famous instances when a change of theme took place involve two very well known themes with rather different results. In the weeks after Money in the Bank 2011, Raw ended an episode with John Cena beating Rey Mysterio and becoming WWE Champion, replacing the champion that had just left the company with the title belt. Then a guitar riff cut in, one that no-one recognised. Of course we all now know that riff as the intro of “Cult of Personality” and out came CM Punk. Now the argument of whether he came back too early and that entire storyline has been beaten to death and I’m not about to start that up again. But the new music (replacing a perfectly good theme itself) immediately established the new CM Punk.

The other instance occurred at Wrestlemania 21. JBL enters to a chorus of boos. His WWE title on the line against the challenger. John Cena. The newest face on the main event scene. A man whose popularity was sky rocketing. He'd made his way out of obscurity to the Wrestlemania main event in just over two and a half years. The crowd are waiting for the first sound of his theme music. The arena is ready to erupt. It hits...and the crowd goes mild. The crowd were wanting "Basic Thuganomics", they got a hitherto unknown tune called "My Time is Now". The change for John Cena's theme was necessary. He was slowly changing from his rough around the edges hip hop character to the squeaky clean babyface we know today. To make the change before the biggest match of his career on the biggest stage of them all was a bold move. Sadly it took the crowd slightly out of the moment and I don't think it achieved the desired effect. The fact that what followed was an intensely uninspired bout with a damp squib of an abrupt ending didn't help matters.

So all in all, a wrestler's theme music, be it an original composition or an established piece, needs to have the following - a memorable hook, an impactful opening and a style that suits the wrestler that it is for. Bearing all that in mind, here are my personal top 5 wrestlers entrance themes

5: Bray Wyatt - "Live in Fear" by Mark Crozier. Apparently discovered on a licensing for television website. Says the man himself: "As soon as I heard the bass line of this one, a spark happened. It was magic. He was able to capture a mood in a melody. The mood is very eerie. The song and Bray Wyatt come together so well because Bray is an enigma."
Couldn't put it better myself

4: Hulk Hogan - "Real American" by Rick Derringer
Come on, it has to be in there. So good, Hogan stole it from Windham & Rotunda, who were using it in the first place as the US Express. Strange to think of a younger me singing along "I am a real American", not very patriotic but demonstrates perfectly how a catchy riff and cheesy lyrics can make a memorable entrance.

3: The London Riots - "Diesel Power" by Prodigy
The best tag team on the UK scene in my opinion (other teams may have great wrestlers in them, but these two are a true team), they enter to a mashup of various news reports about the riots in the capital a few years back before the belting bassline pounds out. Perfectly encapsulates the brooding and scary mood the Riots bring to their matches.

2: The Brood - "Blood" by Jim Johnston
Absolutely the best entrance of the Attitude Era. You can keep your glass smashing, bell tolling, cooking smelling - the Brood's theme just had IT. Combined with the amazing sight of three men coming up through a ring of fire, the eerie voices whispering at you before an actually simple instrumental with strange grinding guitars were something no other theme had. Gangrel still uses it to this day. Not sure if WWE know that though.

1: Madison Rayne - " Killa Queen" by Dale Oliver
Yes that's right - my favourite entrance music in all of wrestling comes from a TNA Knockout. Everything that makes a great theme is here. Immediate impact with a pounding guitar riff right away. A catchy lyric on the chorus (only four words, I know, but still...). And perfectly encapsulated Madison's character, that of the arrogant female that was at the time on the roll of her life and defeating everyone that TNA put in front of her. On a disappointing One Night Only Knockouts ppv that TNA put out recently, Madison's theme hitting at the end of the night to present Gail Kim with her prize for winning put the biggest smile on my face.

So there you go - a retired TNA Knockout has the best entrance music in all of wrestling

At least that's my opinion

Hope you enjoyed my first column. Follow me @dagreeno and give me suggestions for future columns. The more random, the better.

The Most Ridiculous Promo Ever By Shaun Nichols

I did think that maybe one of the other contributors to the site may have wanted to discuss Triple H's promo in the main event angle of the go home show for the Hell In A Cell PPV, but as no-one has done so I'd like to give my thoughts on it.

As you can tell from the title of this blog, I like many other wrestling fans thought it was one of the most ill-judged interviews ever put on TV with seemingly the only idea being that Triple H wanted to bury as many stars from both the present and the past as he could. Remember that this was the last Raw before the PPV so this was the last thing that many WWE fans would see and in many cases would determine if they would pay the $54.95 to order the HIAC show.

In the previous episodes of Raw they had worked to convince fans that after the disasters of Night of Champions and Battleground events that here they would deliver a new WWE champion. The key then you would think is to go and get the WWE Universe excited about the conclusion of the Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan feud. But like many times when The Game is on hand with a microphone it became obvious that he's only interested in putting himself over.

The interview had two main points, firstly he buried the accomplishments of Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam and Edge all of which are currently not working for the WWE. There was no reason at all to mention any of the them, Edge has retired and apart from making the occasional appearance will not be a part of the WWE. He is though a WWE Hall of Famer, won the WWE/World titles ten times and was for a long period of time the mainstay of Smackdown and the leading heel in the company in the 2000's.

He was a major star in the WWE for a very long period of time, won as major titles in the WWE as anyone else and was celebrated with two very good WWE DVD sets. He also left on his own terms when he realised he was risking major health issues if he didn't retire which may not have gone down well with Triple H.

The mention of Chris Jericho is probably stranger as it was only a few weeks earlier on Raw in a segment which saw Triple H and Edge argue back and forth. During that, Hunter had confessed that he although he usually assessed talent well he had been wrong about Jericho and that Y2J was a major star although at the same time he again buried Edge by saying he didn't draw a dime. Why do companies keep thinking the fans care about who drew money anyway?

Here though Jericho although popular with the fans, wasn't a big star and didn't do well for business. This led Jericho sending out a couple of tweets after Raw had gone off the air. The gist of the them was that he felt that Triple H despite his many pushes didn't do much either, and that he had other things that he could do in his life. Finishing by saying goodbye to the WWE and that wrestling wasn't as important as many people involved with it believes it is.

Now Chris Jericho does like to keep people guessing about what his future plans are so he could easily be trying to use Triple H's words as a distraction but actually it could be used as the basis of a future programme. With that being said the WWE aren't that keen to have Jericho in major programmes as he is only round for short periods and then goes off to work on other projects. So the idea of a Triple H vs. Chris Jericho feud in the early part of 2014 is probably unlikely.

Assuming that Jericho's responses are genuine and him being buried in that interview was something he wasn't aware of beforehand then it seems a particularly stupid move to annoy a supremely gifted performer who'll come back and do whatever you want him to do without any issues.

The final attack was on RVD, this is someone that I just think Triple H felt he could name to get an easy reaction. RVD is very popular with the fans but wasn't someone who had the same long term impact on the product as Edge and Jericho. Van Dam for his part didn't react at all and probably wasn't all that surprised, when he left the company the announcers played it up that RVD would return at some point and that was likely to be a matter of months rather than years.

The second part of his promo was yet another attempt to get fans to believe that Daniel Bryan wasn't worth paying to see. Quite the masterstroke as this would be the fourth PPV in a row that he would be in the main event.

Triple H stated that he was a real star and he would not waste his time wrestling someone like Daniel Bryan. He also said that he only wrestled other real stars and specifically mentioned The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and The Rock. You'll notice that both Randy Orton and John Cena by that definition are not real stars.

The Undertaker is under a contract but wrestles basically at Wrestlemania and maybe one more time in a year depending if he feels up to it.

Brock Lesnar is again under contract but is only available on a very limited number of dates and hasn't been seen since SummerSlam and doesn't seem likely to appear on WWE television before 2014.

The Rock isn't even under a WWE contract and although he loves wrestling and will probably wrestle again at some point, he is an actor and the studio bosses weren't exactly thrilled with the injuries he picked up wrestling so they wouldn't really want him to wrestle in the future.

So out of the four real stars that Triple H mentioned, the only one that appears on WWE programming on a regular basis is himself. Now that really is a surprise. The current stars that are carrying the company like Cena, Orton, Bryan and CM Punk are merely secondary stars and are inferior to what came before them.

What's pretty funny is that if you really think about it John Cena is easily a bigger star than Triple H was over the last 20 years, and he only trails behind The Rock and Steve Austin as to what he actually means to the company.

What's also clear is despite of everything that the trailers for Hell In A Cell PPV tell you, the major feud that dominates Raw is Triple H vs. Big Show a match that will occur at some point but we don't know when.

Classic Rivalries: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada By Shaun Nichols

Between February 2012 and October 2013, these two met in six major single matches. Five of those were for the IWGP Heavyweight Title (the main title in New Japan Pro Wrestling) with the sixth occurring during this year's G1 Climax tournament.

All of those matches are considered to be excellent, with at least two of them securing ***** ratings, their feud as been compared to such legendary rivalries such as Flair vs. Steamboat or Misawa vs. Kobashi.

Their first encounter occurred as I said in February 2012.

1) NJPW New Beginnings PPV 12/02/2012

Okada had only recently returned to NJPW at the previous months Tokyo Dome show, beating Yoshi-Hashi in about 5 minutes to a very underwhelming reaction. You may possibly remember Okada from his completely meaningless run as Samoa Joe's sidekick in TNA doing a gimmick inspired by Bruce Lee's character in the Green Hornet TV series.

Nobody really gave him a chance to win here, as Tanahashi was NJPW's biggest star and was already enjoying a 13 month title run which included a record 11 title defences. However all good things must come to an end and shockingly Okada defeated him when he nailed him with the Rainmaker (short arm clothesline) after hitting with him Tombstone piledriver on the floor after Tanahashi had crashed and burned on a flip dive. People were stunned, and as Okada celebrated he found himself challenged by Tetsuya Naito.

Okada made his first IWGP title defence on 04/03 against Naito in an absolutely fantastic match which went a long way to show that Okada could have great matches without having to be carried by Tanahashi. It really was a strong MOTY contender in 2012 and I rated it at ****3/4.

2)NJPW Dominion 2012 PPV 16/06/2012

This was where Hiroshi Tanahashi got his revenge and regained his title and has a result tied the all-time record for IWGP title reigns by winning his 6th championship. It was seen pretty much as a given that Okada would drop the title back to Tanahashi as the fans still saw him as not being on the same level as Tanahashi. However his short title run and especially the plaudits he got for his match with Naito meant that his first run as champion would be seen as very much a success.

During the match they also started to build on their previous encounter, Tanahashi repeatedly managed to block Okada's Rainmaker finisher and also hit the Tombstone piledriver en-route to securing his spot in history with his High Flow (Frog Splash) finisher. Match was around the ****1/2 range.

Kazuchika Okada then moved out of the IWGP title picture, as Tanahashi had ready made challengers in Togi Makabe and Masato Tanaka. However Okada was still very much in the plans and went on to win G1 Climax 2012 tournament which came along with the prize of challenging the champion at the Tokyo Dome show in January 2013.

Okada pinned Karl Anderson to win the tournament and became the youngest winner of the G1 at the age of 24. However to get to the Tokyo Dome he would have to defend the title opportunity along the way, which he was able to do including a strong performance defeating Karl Anderson once again at the King of Pro Wrestling PPV. Also on that show Tanahashi defeated Minoru Suzuki in an absolute classic that was rated ***** by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer.

3) Wrestling Kingdom 7 (Tokyo Dome) 04/01/2013

From a drawing point of view this was a huge success for NJPW as they claimed that 29,000 paid to see the show in the Dome which would make it the most successful Tokyo Dome show for 10 years. It was also available on internet PPV and apparently secured 100,000 orders and the feed didn't break either.

It was also a fantastic card, which saw 5 of the last 6 matches rated at **** or better.

The best of the bunch was Tanahashi defending against Okada, with Okada winning the G1 tournament and having strong matches against a number of different opponents he was treated as a serious title challenger.

Tanahashi was having legendary matches against all challengers and though the highlight up until now had been the Suzuki defence, he was on a string of ****+ title defences. This was another classic world title defence which built slowly, made perfect sense with wrestlers remembering to sell if they had a body part worked over for a period of time. They also produced an awesome ending with lots of big moves, great reversals and a finish which played off Tanahashi's attack on Okada's left knee before finishing him off with the High Flow. The match was rated ****3/4 in the Observer.

To earn another crack at the IWGP title, Okada went on to win the New Japan Cup on 23/03 against Hiroki Goto in another very good match. Meanwhile Tanahashi was quietly cementing his status with another classic title defence against Karl Anderson from February. The scene was set and they would meet again at Invasion Attack.

4) NJPW Invasion Attack PPV 07/04/2013

By now when Tanahashi faced off against Okada it now felt like a big major deal with the crowd reacting to everything that both guys did. This was also the first time that Tanahashi started to bend the rules which got him some boos from the fans.
That's not to say that he was turning as that didn't and hasn't happened so far but a sign that the fans were equally invested in both wrestlers. With the fans reacting to both men when they made the ropes from a submission attempt or made a comeback from a period of selling. It looked like Tanahashi would successfully retain but he met only Okada's knees with the High Flow, after more great action Okada managed to follow a Tombstone piledriver with the Rainmaker to start his second run on top. This was rated ***** by the Observer and deserves it.

The 2013 G1 Climax tournament was probably the most stacked in it's history with two blocks of 10 wrestlers and both Okada and Tanahashi were paired in Block A. They both also started pretty slowly so as they met on the eighth night of the tournament they both had 4-3 records.

5) G1 Climax - Night 8 10/08/2013

This would be the only 30 minute draw in the entire tournament, they still basically pulled out all their major moves including Tanahashi's big diving plancha, the High Flow, Okada's Red Ink (a move similar to the STF) and with time running out Tanahashi managed to duck under Okada's attempt to hit the Rainmaker. Match rated ****1/2 by the Observer.

You wouldn't expect Okada as champion to win the G1 tournament and he didn't. He lost on the last night to Satoshi Kojima to fall out of the running and setting up another title defence. Tanahashi did win Block A by defeating Katsuyori Shibata on the last night, before losing to Tetsuya Naito in the finals in a matches rated at **** and ****1/2 respectively.

6) King of Pro-Wrestling PPV 14/10/2013

The final encounter at least for a while, having 6 major matches in just over 18 months may seem like overkill but the story is going to put on temporary hold. Okada stated that if he couldn't beat Tanahashi then he would vacate the title, even a draw would not satisfy for him.

Tanahashi on his part said that if he couldn't beat him then he would no longer be able to challenge for the title while Okada was still the champion. They even teased booking a champion vs. champion match (Tanahashi holds the CMLL Universal title in Mexico) but that was dropped.

The thoughts going in was this was time for Tanahashi to get the gold back as it makes sense for NJPW to have their biggest star headlining the Tokyo Dome show in January.

They went into this match with 2 wins each and the draw from the G1 so this was also for the bragging rights to see who would finally come out on top. They told an incredible story and built on everything they had done in their previous match and even adding new touches such as Tanahashi putting Okada in the Gedo clutch, this was great as Gedo is Okada's manager and he was flipping out at this apparent show of disrespect. Tanahashi worked consistently on Okada's right arm to the point where when Okada finally hit the Rainmaker it took him that long to make the cover, Tanahashi was able to beat the three count. His injured arm made his other finisher the Red Ink from being fully effective so again the challenger survived.

They teased a count out spot when Okada hit by a flying plancha retaliated with a Tombstone piledriver that led to Tanahashi only just making the 20 count. However Tanahashi's luck would not last and after avoiding the Rainmaker several times he was eventually nailed by it for the loss. The Observer gave this match *****.

For sheer match quality it is undeniable that the feud between Tanahashi and Okada should be considered one of the all-time great series, I have a soft spot for the Flair/Steamboat series in 1989 but from a in-ring perspective that doesn't match up to these two. I'm sure that they will have future great matches and the likely inclusion of Tetsuya Naito who is also a super talented wrestler means that NJPW is likely to continue to present awesome title matches and main events for a long time to come.

TNA Disaster: Dixie, Hulk & AJ = No BFG Buys By Shaun Nichols

TNA only now offer 4 PPV events are year, with that in mind you would think that TNA would consider these shows to be very important with strong storylines leading to their fans wanting to pay good money to see the conclusion play out on PPV.

Bound for Glory is TNA's biggest event of the year, and other the last few years have seen the company running a BFG Series to determine the challenger for their world title. This year was no different and with very little surprise AJ Styles was the victor and will go on to challenge Bully Ray for the gold.

Since winning the BFG Series, AJ Styles has had very little interaction with Bully Ray on TV and if you weren't paying that much attention to the product then you'd be hard pressed to realise that he will be facing Bully Ray for the title in a storyline that has taken 12 months to get to. What you will have seen is Impact's final segment over the last few weeks ending with interviews from Dixie Carter, AJ Styles and Hulk Hogan with each one frankly being more ridiculous than the last one.

Let's have a look at each of the closing segments of the last few weeks and highlight where TNA is doing a fabulous job of shooting themselves in the foot.

Week 1
This was confrontation between Carter and Styles. Styles stated that he was working without a contract (he isn't as he's got a short term contract until the end of the year), that Dixie had destroyed the chemistry of what made TNA great. That she didn't understand how to treat the stars and mentioned Jerry Lynn, Petey Williams, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley and Low-Ki left because of it. That she wasted money on wrestlers who treated TNA like being on a paid vacation (probably RVD & Booker T). None of the guys he mentioned would make a difference to TNA and Jerry Lynn has retired.

Dixie responded by saying that she was sorry she had ever given him the impression that he was important to TNA, she said he was average and not as good as he used to be. If it wasn't for her and her family than he would be living in a trailer park. That AJ Styles did not build this house and that he should be thankful that she ever allowed him to play in it. Dixie really did come across as a very poor imitation of Stephanie McMahon.

So after watching this, you have to wonder why AJ Styles is trying to win the TNA World title when he feels the company has been destroyed and he doesn't have a contract to stop him leaving. Meanwhile Dixie is pointing out that the challenger in the main event of the biggest TNA show of the year, isn't very good and he was never 'phenomenal' and although he was never great to start with he's worse today then he was years ago.

Week 2
This saw firstly a Hogan promo where he was trying to get fans to show AJ that they wanted him to stay with the company. It wasn't the greatest reaction immediately but Hogan stuck with it by practically begging the fans to cheer for Styles. Styles did come out to a nice pop, Hulk said he'd fix things later on.

Later turned out to be our main event segment, things started well when Hogan gave Styles a new contract to sign and said he believed in him. Enter Dixie Carter, who immediately gushed out brilliant Hulk was and how much of a difference he had made to TNA. I know Hulk has complete control of his angles but it's quite a stretch to take that comment seriously.

Dixie then ripped up the contract, Styles said that was the biggest mistake that she had ever made. She responded by telling him to get out of the ring, and just like a child being told off by their parents off he went never to be seen again. She then complained how hard her life was and how nobody understood just how difficult it was making all those hard decisions and the fans should respect her. She now knew what she had to do to help TNA and she wanted Hulk to join Team Dixie.

This week really gave no reason for anyone to rally behind AJ Styles, he was basically treated as someone who should be quiet when the 'important' people are talking. Dixie's promo clearly shows that she thinks Styles is not any kind of asset to the company, while Hogan in his 60's and someone who will never wrestle again is essential to the success of TNA.

Week 3
Another bad week for AJ, though he did manage to cut a promo stating he would take the title from Bully Ray. Dixie then went to have security throw him out but Styles chose to leave voluntarily because he didn't want to breathe the same air as she did. This AJ is really someone who'll stick up for himself.

This left Dixie to concentrate on the really important issue of Hulk Hogan, Hogan by all accounts has left TNA although this could easily be a swerve and he ends up playing a key role at the PPV.

Dixie wanted to know if Hogan was going to join Team Dixie, Hulk said he'd always wanted to be a part of a power couple and teased he would agree. Finally though he told her he was quitting, Dixie thoroughly dejected immediately fell to her knees and grabbed his legs and begged him not to leave.

You have to hand it to Hulk, he really does understand that if you can choose to put yourself over then why even consider trying to help any other wrestlers or the company. As the show ended it was clear that the only person who could be considered a winner was Hulk who left with his integrity intact, Dixie and TNA looked like bunch of sorry losers.

TNA will probably wonder why the Bound for Glory show will not do well, but they should understand that having Dixie come across as a low rent Stephanie, Hogan be the only star on the show and they are telling you he's gone that your not going to do well. Finally having AJ as a weak lead babyface who hates the owner but doesn't have the guts to find something better is a recipe for disaster.